Virginia Sempervirens: February 22, 2009

B-man showing off his toy he earned from the bean jar. He was sitting next to me while I opened some presents.

February 22, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a much slower week. I am so grateful for a slower pace on occasion. Monday was President's Day. We spent the day being pretty slow and being together. We had a fun breakfast in the morning, ran some errands in the afternoon, and then had a fun dinner (as an early celebration for my birthday) at Red Robin. On the way to dinner we had a little mini FHE discussion. After dinner we had ice cream and then made it back home for bed.

Tuesday was my birthday. It was a great relaxing day. B-man had preschool, and was so happy to go. He has started anticipating the letters he is learning about each week. The letter this week was "T" and he has been walking around saying words trying to figure out what starts with the t sound. Sometimes he is right, and then occasionally we will get a "t-t-computer! Computer starts with t!" And then I remind him that it has the sound in the word but it doesn't actually start with a t. After preschool we had just enough time for lunch, before heading off to swim lessons. I was trying to emphasize to B-man that it is swim school, and not just free time in the pool. I think it worked because although he still had a few moments of wanting to do his own thing, the teacher said he was much better about listening. He just got so excited to be in a pool, that he forgot he needed to be listening to the adult! M took the day off of Spanish so that he could be home early. When he got home from work we opened a few presents and he and B-man sang me "Happy Birthday". Then that night we went to dinner at our favorite place in town. It was a great night! Before going to bed M gave me another present (by B-man). We decided to wait on cake and candles until later.

Wednesday we had David at our house. We ran a few errands, but stayed pretty close to home. That night M got home a little earlier than expected. Usually on Wednesdays we don't get to eat together but we had enough time to both eat dinner. I then left to go to basketball practice and mutual. M tried to console B-man (who didn't get to go) by taking him with him to find some new running shoes. After basketball practice we had Young Women and did a combined activity with all of the girls. After dropping off some of the girls at home I returned just in time for M to have his first ever presidency meeting. He still doesn't have a secretary, but at least now he has some counselors to rely on for help.

Thursday morning we had preschool again. B-man took his truck towel for show and tell. When I got to the house I got out walking B-man to the door. While pausing to talk with one of the other mother's B-man remembered that he had been planning on walking to the door all by himself. He got a little frantic because he wanted me in the car to do it himself. He then walked up to the door, knocked, and went into the house all by himself. Later that afternoon we had swim lessons. Despite having the beginnings of a cold, B-man did great. I have never seen him swim better. It's so fun to see him improve and get better. He is completely unafraid of the water, and loves to tell the teacher to move further back so that he can impress her with how far he can swim. After swimming B-man and I made two different batches of blueberry muffins to see which recipe we liked better. Mostly I made the muffins and B-man sampled them… That night after dinner M went to his "man club." He had a great time, but was frustrated that the other guys didn't show up until he normally would have been leaving.

Friday morning my visiting teachers came over. They stayed for about (thirty minutes) the perfect amount of time, and then had to go. David did not come over because his mother didn't want to expose him to whatever B-man has. He has a cold with a nasty cough. That day we ran a few errands but tried to keep B-man calm. I tried unsuccessfully to get him to take a nap. That night we had some friends over for pulled pork sandwiches. After dinner we played some Rook, (and lost…) before they headed home.

The next day was Saturday. We made it a pretty leisurely day. I went to basketball games a little late. I ended up playing (very safely) for about two minutes when someone got hurt. Although I am not obviously pregnant, it is too easy to forget that I need to be careful and not go diving after the basketball. But it is also too hard to not sub in when needed. After the women's game I stayed and helped coach the young women. They won their game and some of the girls are actually showing signs of improvement! When I got home M went for a run and later in the afternoon we ran a few errands. Part of the errands ended up being us getting a bigger bike for B-man and a bike for me. A family in our ward was cleaning out their garage, and we just happened to see the email and get over to their house first. We are both so excited for our new bikes. Mine is the beach cruiser I have always wanted, and looks brand new. It even has a big comfy grandma seat that I feel is essential on any bike. Now we just need a little warmer weather, and B-man can practice his no training wheels skills! That night was the Stake Enrichment night. Before the meeting I went to dinner at Panera with a few of my friends from the ward. The meeting was wonderful; it was filled with music and talks all centering on Christ. After getting home I worked on my lesson for Sunday before going to bed.

This morning has been a busy day. M was up early and made a fun breakfast before heading off to his meetings. While he was gone I worked on my talk for Sacrament meeting. Cute B-man did such a good job playing alone while I worked. When I was almost done he asked at one point, "Mom can you play with me for one minute?" I couldn't resist such a request and took a little break. I finished the talk without much time to spare. Just enough time to get showered and ready, and eat some lunch. M did get home and help with some of those details. B-man is still pretty congested and coughing, so M took him to church for the Sacrament and to hear my talk and then they left. They made sure to sit in a back corner where they could limit B-man's exposure to other innocent people. About five minutes after getting home from church, our home teachers came over. After they left we had a simple dinner. Later I went to a fireside. The speaker was a temple recorder from our stake. We have a temple trip for the youth this week. We had a great turnout and hopefully it will help it be more meaningful to them. When I got home M went for a very quick home teaching appointment.